Age Is But A Number
by crazytomboy78
Summary: An old and ailing Pepper Stark recalls her favorite memories of her and Tony's younger days as she grieves the decease of her one and only true love, in which she discovers the most important lesson of all.


**Hey peoplesss! Well, instead of updating my crossover tonight, I've decided to post this new story, and maybe one other new story, if I have time before I have to go sleepy. It's only a one-shot, and it's really friggin' cutee!**

An old woman sat in her rocking chair, moving it back and forth slowly with her feet. As she sat, doing nothing but staring at a photo of her deceased husband of 40 years being married to, she heard her doorbell go off. She stayed seated a moment, then slowly arose from her rocking chair to answer the door. She gloomily shuffled to the front door, not too far behind her chair. She put her hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly. She was a lot more ailing these days, and she had bad knees. Her hearing was only a little worse, and she could see just fine. The best working part of her body, by far, was her memory. She could remember every second of her life as if it was yesterday, and she enjoyed telling her grandchildren stories of her teen years.

She opened the door to find her son, Gavin Stark, standing there with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Why, hello Gavin." She greeted.

"You're feeling better today, mom?" He asked.

"A little more cheerful today, yes." She responded.

"That's good." He nodded. There was a saddened silence. Gavin's father, who was obviously the old woman's husband, had passed away last month; he was the love of her life, and she'd preferred to spend her life with no one else but him. They'd known each other since teen years, and she knew from those days on that she would always love him. Finally Gavin spoke up.

"We all really do miss dad, you know, mom. You're not alone." He comforted. He had been a bit gloomy himself lately. He woke up in the middle of the night, often, slipped on a robe and slippers, and walked to his father's grave in a nearby cemetery, and just stared at what was carved in the slab of stone. It read:

_Tony Stark_

_Loved by many, and will never be forgotten. His spirit lives on in his company, and in our hearts._

As he read the slab each time, a single tear rolled down his cheek and he looked at it no more than another ten minutes before returning to bed; all without anyone else noticing. Not one of his three daughters, or one son, or wife, had ever noticed his midnight grave visits. He didn't want them to; Ivory, his oldest daughter and the oldest child, would tell her mother, and Autumn, the second oldest, would worry too much, Zada, the third child, would tell her other sisters and have a family meeting about it, and last but not least, the youngest; the only son, Emmet, would confront his father with questions of _why? _And _how long?_ And other questions he'd not want to answer.

"I know, Gavin. But I stay up all night crying because I loved him so much." The woman explained.

"I know, mom, I understand how much you cared for him." Gavin reassured.

"I remember the day we almost didn't marry…"

_**Flashbackkkk!**_

_A young woman with a red head of hair, in her mid-twenties, stood with an angry expression on her face and hands on her hip as she glared at her fiancée, also in his mid-twenties with icy, crystal blue eyes and gorgeous brown hair._

"_What? Seriously, cut me some slack here. I'm just trying to run a company!" He defended himself._

"_Yes, Tony, I get that part; but what I don't get is why you always have to seclude yourself from everyone else all the time, just so you can go hide yourself in that basement!" She was close to yelling._

"_Pepper, calm down! It's not like I don't pay any attention to you at all, ever! I make sure to pay attention to you when you want me to!" He defended himself once more._

"_I swear, Tony, every time I say tomato, you say tomato!" _**(A/N: you know, as in,**__**the two different ways to pronounce the word? They're spelled the same and whatever I'm typing up I recite to myself in my head as I write it.) **_She sighed. He was getting really irritating._

"_Pepper, come on. You know I love you, and you know I spend time with you; what more do you want?" He asked._

"_A little more on your part in this relationship? Just because you spend time with me, doesn't mean that's completing your part of the relationship. What happened to the playful, arrogant and funny Tony I used to know?" She quieted her voice at her last sentence._

"_That was back then, Pepper. This is now; I've changed." He explained._

"_I don't know if I know you anymore, Tony. Honestly, sometimes I don't even know why I ever chose to marry you!" She screeched. Tony was taken aback for only a moment before he defended more._

"_Well fine then, don't marry me! You don't have to!" He yelled. They fell silent; no longer yelling. Pepper sighed._

"_But…I couldn't call it off…I-It'd break my heart…" She said quietly. Tony's anger was released at once and he'd forgotten why he was angry in the first place. _

"_Me too…I really do love you, Pepper." He practically whispered. They embraced each other in a warmed hug._

"_And I'm sorry if I haven't been spending a lot of time with you. I have a tendency to neglect people for my work…." He explained. Pepper smiled._

"_I understand, Tony. It's ok." _

"_So you're not leaving me? Because I really would care; I'd be heartbroken too." He asked shyly. She giggled._

"_No, Tony, I won't leave you." She answered._

_**Flashback end! **_

The old woman smiled as she remembered the day clearly. Gavin said nothing. They exchanged a weary silence. There was nothing to be said, but instead, to be kept as thoughts in their heads. They were two different people, even if they were mother and son. The mother, Pepper Stark, was a free-willing, spirited young woman who always had a motivation to do things, and a strong will to complete her tasks successfully. The boy, Gavin, was a smart, handsome, funny, arrogant and free-willing man who took much after his father. Although he'd gotten few things from his mother, like his bits and pieces of red in his brown hair, and his brown eyes, he resembled his father in many more ways, and it pained her to see so much of Tony in him. Her youngest, Adrianne, resembled her most. Their oldest, a girl, was more of a mix of her and Tony. Her name was Gianna. She had brown hair and brown eyes, and freckles, and streaks of red, which were natural, and Pepper's petite face. Both Tony's and her personality. Smart, free-willing, arrogant, funny.

Aside from their differences, they got along very well. Pepper Stark may have a broken heart from the great loss of her one and only true love, Tony Stark, but she knew that one thing was for sure.

Only time can mend a broken heart.

**Endddd. Cute right? IK. It popped into my head a while back and I just got the chance to write it down. Review?**


End file.
